The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Therlam makes the difference

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Friday, Dec 08, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Therlam makes the difference

W. Chandrakanth

Victory is the result of a carefully worked-out strategy

Hyderabad: The slender victory margin of 157 votes of Congress candidate B. Jhansi Lakshmi, secured in the byelection to the Bobbili Lok Sabha seat, was a result of a carefully worked out strategy by the ruling party.

After an analysis of the previous results in the seven Assembly segments of the Lok Sabha seat, the ruling party decided to cut into the vote bank of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Therlam segment which elected TDP's T. Jaya Prakash in the 2004 general elections.

Master plan

A two-pronged strategy was adopted -- one to increase its own vote bank and the other to slice away the TDP traditional vote bank. Minister for Agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy was made in-charge of the constituency with a mandate to work for a margin of at least 5,000 votes.

In the 2004 Assembly elections, the TD candidate secured 55,768 votes as against the Congress candidate's 46,846 -- margin of 8,922 votes.

Some villages like Mugada, Pudivalasa, S.Burjuvalasa and Pinavalasa, strongholds of the TDP MLA, where the Congress share never crossed the double digit were given a more focussed attention. Mugada voters had cast just 57 votes for the Congress in 2004 elections as against 2,352 for the TDP. This time, out of 1,739 votes polled, the ruling party could secure 130 votes.

In Pudivalasa which has 570 votes and which polled just 33 for the Congress candidate the last time, saw the share rising to 95 votes against the 277 polled by the TDP. In S.Burjuvalasa, the Congress secured 155 votes against the TDP's 182 this time.

Last time, the Congress got just 84 votes out of a total of 339 polled.

Three meetings

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy addressed three meetings in Therlam segment alone during his campaign.

The strategy thus resulted in a 6,682 vote-margin in favour of the Congress in this segment -- the highest compared to other segments.

The ruling party got 1,642 votes more in Gajapathinagaram, 3,622 in Etcherla, 1,699 in Cheepurpalli, 1,319 in Sathivada and 541 in Bobbili. The Vizianagaram segment alone gave the TDP a whopping 15,319-vote lead in the counting. But, Therlam made the difference.

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